Longtime homeless advocate Michael McConnell announced that he has transferred his share of ownership in San Diego Coin & Bullion to co-owner Chad Martin in order to devote more time to his civic passion and quest to develop permanent housing solutions.

Thanks to Stephanie Brown and The Rosie Network, for the second straight year we handed out the coolest business trophies in the market at our recent Veteran & Military Entrepreneur Conference and Awards.

Dowling & Yahnke Wealth Management is a great local success story, having grown over its 28 years to more than 1,000 clients and more than $3.5 billion in assets under management. It is consistently recognized among the nation’s top registered investment advisors.

John Ohanian and 2-1-1 San Diego’s first national Community Information Exchange Summit was such a success they have signed up to host it again in April 2019. Last year’s event sold out with 350 leaders from across the country attending.

Christopher Yanov is stepping down from his executive director role at Reality Changers, the nonprofit he founded in 2001. He describes it as a founder’s dream, that the organization has a strong interim leader, a supportive board and a staff able to operate without him.

News from the board room:
Viasat recently invited one of its longtime investors, Baupost, to take part in its board meetings as a non-voting observer. Why might they do such a thing? Baupost is an investment fund with about $30 billion in assets under management. A recent filing states they have a 23.06 percent stake in Viasat and are an active investor as opposed to a passive investor.

Shara Fisler and the Ocean Discovery Institute this past weekend celebrated the grand opening of their $17 million Living Lab facility in City Heights. The project began 10 years ago with the concept of an $8 million permanent home for the nonprofit and its programming, which annually serves about 4,000 students with access to a rich science environment.

Legoland California Resort general manager Peter Ronchetti was recently sworn in as a U.S. citizen during a ceremony at Golden Hall. Ronchetti, a native of England, has been at the Carlsbad resort since 2008, overseeing not only theme park operations but also development of their hotel properties.

San Marcos-based Cart Mart Inc. has been in the slow-vehicle space since 1959, and owner Brian Rott has diversified its offerings from golf carts to on-campus electric vehicles and expanded the service area to include Orange County, the Coachella Valley and Los Angeles County.

Nancy Jamison says her decision to retire from the role of president and CEO of San Diego Grantmakers at the end of 2018 emanates from her desire for a schedule with a different pace and the realization that it is time for someone else to take a turn with a great organization.

When we last checked in with Fantasy Sports Co. in Carlsbad, they had been named a “cool company” by the San Diego Venture Group, were a finalist in the region’s largest quick pitch competition and had raised $450,000 from Howard Lindzon’s local super angel venture fund Social Leverage.

Comic-Con’s invasion of San Diego for the 49th time this week will essentially kick off the public campaign to expand the San Diego Convention Center by more than 300,000 square feet at a cost of about $685 million.

It was quintessential North County, with a small group of stakeholders in a coworking/coliving space in Encinitas, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, contemplating how the county’s geographic diversity fits into its startup ecosystem.

With only two companies in the Fortune 500, San Diego is not a big corporate headquarters region. That’s unlikely to change given land and employee costs and, of course, our regulatory pals in Sacramento.

The Notre Dame-Navy football game on Oct. 27 at SDCCU Stadium will have an obvious built-in fan base given the military presence here. But there are some new Notre Dame stakeholders in the market as well.

Several CEOs pulled double duty recently in attending the SDBJ’s Most Admired CEO event at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year festivities at the Fairmont Grand
Del Mar.

San Diego Startup Week arrives June 25 for its 6th edition. In entrepreneurial years the event may not yet equate to being a full-fledged adult, but perhaps it is a teen with keys to a car or is heading off to college.

Doug Manchester had plenty of company from the San Diego 500 at the groundbreaking for the $1.5 billion Manchester Pacific Gateway project, the largest development of its kind in city history. The 12-acre project,12 years in the making so far, will cover eight city blocks at the waterfront and contain seven buildings.